Brooder for chicks



March 26, 1935. F. P. CRANDON 1,995,471

BROODER FOR CHICKS Filed Feb. 7, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 26, 1935.

BROODER FOR CHICKS Filed Feb. 7, 1931 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F. P. CRANDON1,995,471

Patented Mar. 26, 1935 UNITED STATES! PATENT .oreicsjj 1,995,471 7BROODER. FOR CHICKS Frank I". Crandon, New Bedford, Mass. ApplicationFebru ry 7, 1931,- Serial No. 514,083

' 1 c ai (01. 119-34) My invention relates to brooders for chicks and ithas for its object to improve the construction and'mode of operation ofdevices of thisclass- This invention also has for its object to providean improved brooder system including a house within'which isarranged aheated hover of improved construction. a I

To these ends I have provided a brooder system of that classwhich-includes a house within which is provided a hover supportedadjacent the floor of the structure, and within which hover is arrangeda radiatorlwhose inlet is connected by a supply conduit with the outletof a water heater, and whose outlet is connected with the inlet of saidwater heater by a return conduit.

These elements have-heretofore been associated in systems of this kindbut a-feature=of novelty of my new system'consists in incorporating aportion of the return conduit within the floor of the hover below thelevel of the top surface thereof, but closely adjacent the latter, sothat the hover iioo-r is heated as well as the hover itself and theinterior of the latter. I

In the best form of *my invention the floor of the hover is a monolithmade from concrete and the portion of the return conduit that'isincorporated therein is embedded within the material of this concretefloor so that it is in intimate contact therewith and transmits its heatdirectly to the same. Preferably a blanket of heat insulating materialsuch as sheet asbestos is arrangedclose to and directly below thisportion of the.

return conduit which confines the heat to the top portion of the floorof the hoverand prevents its being dissipated downwardly.

Also in the best form of my invention the portion of the return conduitthat is directly below the hover, and which forms part of the floorthereof, is constructed with a plurality of branches disposed in ahorizontal plane andeonstituting a laterally extending radiatorv whichheats all parts of the floor beneath the hover.

It is also a feature of my invention that the hover includes, as a partthereof, a canopy body portion, preferably made from sheet metal,provided interiorlywith a horizontal partition which may rest upon thetop of the radiator thereby at times to utilize the latter as a supportfor said canopy body'to which heat is transmitted directly from theradiator.

It is alsoa feature of my invention that this partition includes abottom layer of sheet'metal and an upper layer of, heat insulatingmaterial, such as asbestos, so that most of the heat received by thepartition from the radiator is 'reflected downwardly on to the chicksinstead' of' being transmitted, or permitted to radiate, upwardly asheretofore. i Other features of my invention are hereinafter pointedout. v In the accompanying-drawings: Figure 1 illustrates a broodersystem constructed in accordance with my invention. Figure 2 is acentralvertical sectional view of; thehover including a portion of the floor ofthe latter; Figure 3 is a plan view of a portion ofthe return conduitshowing also the radiator which constitutes part of the floor of thehover, and the blanket of insulating material beneath the radiator theconcrete of the floor being omitted.

My improved brooder system as herein illustrated includes a house orapartment the iio'or of which is made from concrete and isshown at 1;the roof at 2; an end wall at 3, and a side wall at 4. I I Seated uponthe floor 1 is an upstanding radiator that is indicated generally at 5,said ra-' diator being of that type which comprises two manifolds 6 and'7 connected by a row or series of 7 the return conduit 12 andconsequently hot water will circulate from heater 11 throughconduit 10to radiator 5 and thence back to heateri 11 again through return conduit12.

The hover of the system is indicated generally at 9 and includes as apart thereof a conical sheet metal canopy body 13 provided, as usual,with a pendant felt or fabric skirt 14 that is slitted to facilitate theentrance and exit of chicks. ,Intermediate the upper and lower endsthereof the sheet metal canopy body 13 is made with a horizontalpartition that is indicated generally at 15 and which includes as a partthereof 1a sheet metal bottom wall 16 whose top 'side i's covered with alayer of heat insulatingmaterial 17, such as asbestos. I

The partition 15 is made at its middle with an aperture communicatingwith the lower end of a wardly through the top of the sheet'metal body13 to which it is fastened near its upper end. The upper end of the fiue18 is provided with a damper 19 pivotally connected near its middle toone arm of a lever 20 that is fulcrumed at 21 on the canopy body 13.This lever 20 is connected by a stem 22 with a thermostatic regulator 23fastened to a bracket 24 projecting from the canopy body 13. Thethermostatic regulator 23 is within the hover 9 and operates as usual toautomatically adjust lever 20 and damper 19 so as to maintain thetemperature within the hover at or near a predetermined point.

As shown in Figure 2 the partition 15 and flue 18 provide an annulardead-air space 25 within the upper end portion of the canopy body 13 andthis dead-air space serves to insulate the partition 15 from the upperportion of the body 13. Also, the top asbestos layer 17 of the partition15 prevents upward radiation of heat from the sheet metal wall 16 of thepartition and also prevents the transmissionof heat directly from saidsheet metal wall 16 to the dead-air within the annular space 25. It willtherefore be clear that the heat accumulated by the bottom wall 16 ofthe partition 15 will be radiated downwardly on to the chicks within thehover.

Normally the sheet metal bottom wall 16 of partition 15 maybe seatedupon the top of the radiator 8 in which case heat will be transmitteddirectly from the radiator to said bottom wall from which latter it willbe radiated downwardly as described. I I r To the exterior of the canopybody 13 of the hover 9 are fastened the lower ends of a plurality ofcables 26 whose upper ends are fastened to one end of a single cable 27.This cable 27 extends upwardly over a pulley 28 and may be secured, whennecessary, to a cleat 29-provided on the wall 4.

When it is desired to clean the floor of the hover the canopy body 13 ofthe latter is raised by pulling upon the cable 2'7 and issecured in anelevated position by fastening the said cable to the cleat 29. It willbe clear that all of the floor of thehoveris easily accessible for thepurpose of cleaning and replenishing the litter 30 with which the floorsof hovers are ordinarily covered. v

With most brooders as heretofore constructed it has been necessary tocover the floor of the hover. with a thick layer of dried peat in order.

to shield the chicks from the cold unheated floor. One feature of myinvention utilizes the return conduit to heat the floor of the hoverthroughout its extent in a very efficient manner so that it isunnecessary to employthe thiok layer'of dried peat heretofore requiredso that a thin sprinkling or layer of sand (not shown) will suffice.

,In orderto thus heatfthe entire floor of the hover said floor hascompletely embedded therein a radiator, indicated generally at 31, whichconstitutespart of the return conduit 12. As herein shown this radiator31 comprises 3 two end manifolds 32 and 32a made up of pipe sections andpipe fittings which are connected by a plurality of parallel pipelengths 33.

The manifold 32 is made at its'middle with a cross fitting 34 havingthree outlets anda single inlet that is connected with the oulet of the.

radiator 5, while the manifold 32a is constructed at its middle with asimilar lcross fitting having three inlets and a single outlet that isconnected with the inlet of the heater 11. Thus the hot water flowingbygravity away from the radiator 5 divides at the cross fitting 34 andpasses through all of the pipe sections 33 on its way to the heater 11.

The radiator 31 is made sufficiently large to heat the whole of thefioor of the hover and in order to confine all of the heat given ofi bythe radiator 31 to the top portion of the floor of the hover I arrange ablanket 36 of heat insulating material, such as asbestos, beneath theradiator 31. This blanket 36 prevents transmission of the heatdownwardly into the lower part of the floor or into the ground. I

The floor 1 is preferably made from concrete "and practically all of thereturn conduit includpipe union 38. In the supply conduit, between aradiator 5 and the heater 11, I'provide another shut-off valve 39between which and the radie ator 5 is a second union 40.- It willtherefore be clear that by closing the two valves 37 and 39 anddisconnecting the unions 38 and the radiator 5 may be quickly removedwhen this is necessary without requiring any other adjustment oralteration in the system. 2

Where a plurality of hovers are arranged within one and the samebuilding they are usually disposed in a row and the supply conduit 10 aswellas the return conduit 12 will be common to all the hovers and willbe connected with each as above described.

In practice, the upper horizontal portion of the supply conduit 10 isinstalled with a pitch of one-half an inch to ten feet, the highestpoint being at the boiler or heater end thereof, while the returnconduit 12 is installed with a pitch of about one-half an inch to tenfeet and with the lowest point adjacent the boiler or heater 11. Thiseliminates the necessity of letting air out of the radiators daily andthe water flows more freely thus affording economy of fuel.

The arrangement of the return conduit within, and below the top surfaceof, the floor 1 obviates the use of a thick layer of litter 30 so thatwith its radiator; or radiators, 31 within the material of the floor theuseof platforms raised above the level of the floor which are unhandy Ito clean is avoided. It is also an advantage that the heat derivedthrough the floor of the hover affords a saving in the amount of fuelconsumed and also a saving of fuel is secured through the use of theinsulating blanket36.

The above described construction of the partition 15 prevents loss ofheat upwardly and re-- fleets all of the latter downwardly on to thechicks within the hover. 7

An advantage resides in the-upright disposition of the radiator 5, andthis advantage is that the radiator disposed in this fashion itispossible to completely clean all of the floor of the hover from astanding position, whereas in other systems where the radiator isdisposed horizontally it is necessary to get down onto the floor inorder toclean under said radiator. 7

,While the chicks arevery small the hovermay be supported entirely bythe radiator 5 but as the chicks grow the hover can be adjusted upwardlyfrom time to time by means of the cable 27, if necessary.

What I claim is:-

A brooder house for chicks, said house being constructed with a concretefloor and having, in

perforate; damper mechanism for controlling the flow of air through saidflue; an upright radiator within said hover and resting upon said floorupon the top of which radiator said horizontal partition wall restsflatwise so as to have sub- I stantial heat transmitting contacttherewith; a. supply conduit separably connected with the inlet of saidradiator, a return conduit separably' connected with the outlet of saidradiator; a second horizontally disposed radiator structure constitutinga part of said return conduit, said horizontally disposed radiatorstructure being completely embedded within the concrete of the floordirectly beneath said hover and radiator and closely adjacent to the topsurface of said floor; means supporting said hover so that it can beadjusted vertically toward and from. said floor and fixed'in adjustedposition, and a blanket of heat insulating material that is alsocompletely embedded within the concrete of said floor directly beneathand closely adjacent to said last mentioned radiator structure.

FRANK P. CRANDON.

